her sharp eye caught a picture of a perfect shot that appeared in front of her. it was like on one of these hunting hours she's always visited when she's had time. but all she's got with herself was a bow and an arrow that wasn't a guarantee of a perfect shot. she's gotten frustrated for a few seconds. quick temper, as she's always was, but she remained visually calm. the sun was going down, the street was empty. no one walked this road often, they were afraid. there used to be a story a dark haired beauty walking up this road and ripping everybody's hearts from their chests once she sees them. what an useless legend. they could at least make her a child, it would definitely be more scary than it was now - but now she could only laugh at it. is this what people knew of the red lady? they were wrong. she was way more cruel than they imagined her to be. who the hell rips off people's hearts nowadays anyway? why spare them slow death? but she didn't want to torture the man in front of her right now. she did not have time.

and then there was a shot. precise, quick, silent.

the red light of the sun set was hiding the first drops of blood dripping off half broken arrow. she knew she has to disappear. "silvana," that familiar voice in her head got her back to reality, out of the thoughts that caught her standing there, half in shock and half satisfied with the result of what's happened. "we have to go. NOW," go where? why? she could enjoy watching man's dead body bleeding out until the last bloody drop. he deserved it damn much. how did he dare to ever threaten her and her family? no one was ever able to do that. not over her alive body. "lady castani, please." the voice started to sound a little nervous. fine, she will go. without a word she turned her back to the dead body, her eyes distant, her mind somewhere else, and started walking in front of everyone else. two men followed her, trying to clean off the dirt they had on their hands. such pussies.

and then her silhouette was hugged by darkness, she was gone before anyone could even notice her presence.
that's how her work was being done over years. she did not even remember when she killed her first victim.
why did she do it? no idea. he mightn't just tried to get under her skin.
and failed.
next day he was dead like every other person.

* * *

silvana was never somebody you could play around with. her mind was way smarter than most minds of kids her age, and her words were chosen with care, that children with her ages could not top. she did not care about people, she didn't care even about her family. they wanted her to be a lady while she was everything but that. i mean, please, seriously, her in a night dress bowing in front of royal people that hated her and her family anyways? that was more than ridiculous. at age of twelve, she's severely offended a pope of rome, but was forgiven because of her age and inability to know who she was talking to. even though she knew. and her family did, too.

* * *

next day she woke up to the news, showing the dead man's body on the front paper. this wasn't the first victim of red lady, everyone knew that. it was getting suspicious, but people still believed the silly story and blamed it on the victim. she just hasn't know for how long. but she was satisfied. she made everyone afraid. and that was her intention all the time. what fun would it be if there was no fear? she threw a newspaper on her desk, and started to get ready to play out her role of the family. the only woman beside her mother in her family. widowed because her husband did not take her threats seriously. he should be on his way to the ocean right now. dead, of course.

* * *

as a child, she was never afraid of anything. not even her older brothers, she considered herself one of them most of the time. she did not exactly love them, but she could not say she didn't care about them at least a little bit. she shared the same mind, she knew how to fight, she knew how to kill. and that was the most important trait of her family. but there was another plus that her brother's will never have...

she's a woman.

and everyone knew what a beautiful woman could do, even to the stranger. she does not know mercy, but she knows charm. she doesn't know love, but she knows despair and hurt. and she likes it.

* * *

there's no such thing as a god in this world. if it were, everybody would be dead by now. that's her thought. the people who believe to invisible force of someone that has eternal kindness were, in her opinion stupid heads that were controlled by the church. that's why she never liked the pope. that's why she's offended him.

they were no better than castani's were, even though everyone looked down on them.
why?
because they were stupid.

* * *

people are all the same, they bring hell. and she's one hell of a lady - she'll let everyone know that.